Method of coating metal with metal.



F. W. HEUSER.

METHOD OF COATING METAL WiTH METAL.

APPLICATION FILED APR.2,1915.

1 1 96,5 44. Patented Aug. 29, 1916.

WITNESSES INVENTOR W @710 flfmw W 'flnuum W ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRIEDRICH WILHELM IIEUSER, F GROSS-LICHTERFELDE, WEST, NEAR BERLIN, GER- MANY, ASSIGNOR TO ACCUMULATOREN-FABRIK AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT, OF BERLIN, GERMANY, A. CORPORATION OF GERMANY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 29, 1916.

Application filed April 2, 1915. Serial No. 18,693.

To all whomz't may concern:

Be it known that I, FRIEDRICH VVILHELM HEUSER, a subject of the German Emperor, King of Prussia, residing at Gross-Lichterfelde, west, near Berlin, Germany, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Methods of Coating Metal with Metal, of

, which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the coating of a metal sheet, plate or other foundation structure with a layer of extra metal; this extra layer may or may not have the samecomposition as the foundation or base metal.

The object of my invention is to provide a novel method of applying an extra layer of metal to a foundation metal which is easily practised, will unite foundation and extra layer into a singleunitary structure, will leave the outer surface of the extra layer substantially smooth and uniform, and will enable these results to be quickly obtained.

My invention will be found useful for many purposes but I contemplate its employment particularly for the replacement of worn parts of rail heads in railroad operation. A further special use which I have in mind is for the formation of metallic coatings (usually thin) upon foundation metal; more particularly a layer of harder metal may, by my method, be readily formed upon a foundation of softer metal.

In the prior'art two methods have been practised of covering a given metallic surface with a layer of other metal. One of these has been to bring the upper surface of the foundation metal to the melting point,

'- preferably\by use of the electric arc, and

then to lay upon suclimolten surface numerous small pieces of the covering metal, such pieces then being melted, worked down and smoothed out by the arc so as to rovide a substantially continuous and unifbrm surface.- Another method has been to have the covering metal in the form of a rod or stick and to melt the end thereof and permit the molten material to fall, drop by drop, upon the surface of the metal to be covered. It has been difficult, by either of the methods just referred to, to secure a sufficiently smooth and uniform surface for the covering metal and to secure a sufiiciently uniform thickness thereof.

With my invention as herein disclosed the disadvantages just mentioned are avoided.

Briefly described, my invention comprises cutting, from a sheet of coveringmetal ofpiece having the dimensuitable thickness, a sions and outline of the area of the foun dation metal which is to be covered. This piece is then laid upon the foundation metal so as to correspond with the area to be covered and the foundation metal connected with one terminal of the are circuit. The carbon pencil, connected to the other terminal of the arc circuit is then, after striking the arc, drawn slowly and uniformly over the surface of the superposedsheet over a strip extending inwardly from the edge a width of such strip is melted down and united with the base metal; the carbon pencil is then displacedand worked similarly over the parallel'strip, about 1 c. m. wide, immediately adjacent to the first named strip until the material of this strip is similarly molten and united with the base plate. This displacement of the carbon and successive working over strips of surface area is continued until the entire surface of the superimposed sheet has been gone over.

The desired uniform and correct motion of the carbon pencil to obtain the above desired result is most conveniently accomplished mechanically; in this way the movement can be made to take'place at a speed exactly corresponding to the melting of the edge or strip.

about 1 c. m., until the material of To insure an arc which will burn quietly and conveniently I find it convenient to place a form or mold of some good heat conducting material as, e. 9., copper, adjacent to the strip over which the are is to be played.

I have spoken of the movement of the carbon pencil as taking placealong parallel strips or paths; in many cases, however, it will be more convenient to move the carbon pencil in concentric circles or along a spiral. These variations are immaterial provided the welding is accomplished by working over successively adjacent areas.

My invention may be explained by reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawing where is showna metallic mass or base metal a which is to be coated with, or upon which is to be welded, a'plate b. This plate may be supposed to be rectangular and 0 to be the right hand edge at which the Welding process is to begin. A convenient source of current It has its one circuit terminal connected to the carbon pencil f and its other circuit terminal connected to the base metal at is. A copper form, which may conveniently be a bar d, is placed parallel with the edge 0 but separated therefrom by a little over l c. m.s distance.

i To practise the invention the arc is struck in the usual manner and then the carbon pencil 7" is drawn evenly and uniformly along the edge I; and over the surface of a strip extending about 1 c. m. from said edge, 2'. 6., nearly to the mold cl. As the metal gradually melts down it will flow slightly and take the form shown by the dotted line on. When the material has been melted down to the upper surface of base metal a the upper surface layer of this base metal will itself become fused and base metal and covering layer will unite and weld together. The copper form (Z is then moved about 1 c. m. to the left and the pencil f moved to and fro over the adjacent 1 c. m. strip so as to melt down its material and cause it in its turn to be attached to the base'metal. This operation is repeated until the entire area of the covering plate has been gone over.

Where the sheet of covering metal is required to be of considerable thickness it maybe equivalented, if desired, by a number of sheets of correspondingly thinner material. The difiiculty of cutting thick sheets, particularly of very hard metal, is thus done away with.

Having described my invention, 1 claim:

The method of uniting a foundation metal with a covering metal so as to constitute an integral whole which comprises ing witnesses.

ramps. WILHELM HEUSER.

'Witnesses JOHN VASSMANN, ALBERT MATEJKA, WOLDEMAR HAUPT, HENRY HAsPER.

placing the tion metal, 

